In a computer, e.g. a tower computer, a storage bay represents that section which accommodates contains one or more storage devices such as one or more hard disk drives (HDDs) and/or solid state drives (SSDs). Typically, the storage devices are connected to one or more connectors disposed on a backplane of the storage bay, to provide an interface with wiring which provides communication with a storage controller. Conventionally, such connectors include pins and channels (or “lanes”) that effect such communication.
Conventional connectors are configured to accommodate different storage protocols of storage devices, such as SATA (Serial ATA) and SAS (Serial Attached SCSI, or Small Computer System Interface). With the advent of new storage protocols such as PCIe (PCI Express, or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), new connectors have been developed to accommodate connections with associated storage devices. One such connector is the SFF-8639, which is able to physically accommodate storage devices using the SATA, SAS and PCIe protocols alike. However, the mere inclusion of such a connector in a backplane provides no guarantee that the computer itself will be able to support a given storage device protocol; for instance, the wiring leading to the storage controller may itself be inadequate for the purpose, let alone the controller itself. Accordingly, there is little that can be done to alleviate the risk of connecting a storage device that will then not function adequately because it is not functionally supported by the computer.